The Monkees

The Monkees are an American rock and pop band originally active between 1966 and 1971.

Unlike most rock bands of the 1960s, the Monkees were not formed by its members, but by television producers Brett Schneider and Bob Rafelson, for the situation-comedy series The Monkees that aired from 1966-1968.

Making a new band

Aspiring filmmaker Bob Rafelson developed the initial idea for The Monkees in 1962, but was unsuccessful in selling the series. The Beatles’ film a hard day’s night inspired Rafelson and Schneider to revive Rafelson’s idea for The Monkees. they sold the show to Screen Gems Television on April 16, 1965. first they have signed the nominee for a Tony award- Davy Jones.

On September 10, 1965,Rafelson and Schneider advertised an ad to cast the remainder of the band/cast members for the TV show. Out of 437 applicants, three were chosen for the cast of the TV show: Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz.

The Band music Career

The four musicians were initially allowed only limited roles in the recording studio for the first few months of their five-year career as “the Monkees”. This was due in part to the amount of time required to film the television series. the success of the show led to the actor-musicians becoming one of the most successful bands of the 1960s-Newspapers and magazines reported that the Monkees outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined in 1967. Following the television show’s cancellation in 1968, the Monkees continued to record music until 1971, after which the group broke up. The group has reunited and toured several times since then and recorded the total amount of 13 albums threw their career’s

I’m A Believer

“I’m a Believer” is a song composed by Neil Diamond and recorded by The Monkees in 1966 with the lead vocals by Micky Dolenz. The single hit the number-one spot on the U.S. Billboard hot 100 chart for the week ending December 31, 1966, and remained there for seven weeks, becoming the last No. 1 hit of 1966 and the biggest-selling record for all of 1967. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 5 song for 1967.  it went gold within two days of release. It is one of the fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold more then 10 million physical copies worldwide.

I’m a believer by The Monkees

The song was No. 1 in the UK singles chart for four weeks in January and February 1967 and reached the top spot in numerous countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Ireland. The song appeared in four consecutive episodes of “The Monkees” TV show in December 1966.

The song was The Monkees second single, after “Last Train To Clarksville.” It was released during the first season of their TV show. The Monkees sang on this, but did not play any instruments. The producers used session musicians because they were not convinced The Monkees could play like a real band. This became a huge point of contention, as the group fought to play their own songs.

here’s a few facts about the song:

*Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz sang lead on this

*Monkees guitarist Michael Nesmith didn’t believe this would be a hit, complaining to the producer, Jeff Barry, “I’m a songwriter, and that’s no hit.”  because of his saying- Jeff Barry banned him from the studio while Micky Dolenz recorded his lead vocal.

*Dolenz has painful memories of performing this on tour. He told Entertainment Weekly in 2016. “I do remember lots of snatches of touring back then. Unbelievable. No monitors. Screaming. When we played ‘I’m a Believer’ I couldn’t hear myself. I just had to pound away. Even to this day, I sing with my eyes closed, because I had to close my eyes and hit myself in the leg to keep time on the drums. I had a big bruise”

*The single had an advance order of 1,051,280 copies and went gold within two days of release.

Later uses

*The song was originally used in the home video version of the Coen brothers’ 1984 film “Blood Simple”.

*The song was also used in the South Park episode “Chickenpox”.

*American pop rock band Smash Mouth covered the song in 2001 as part of the soundtrack to the movie Shrek. The    band also released the song on its self-titled album. Eddie  Murphy, portraying the character Donkey, also performed a rendition of the song in the film. The song was chosen for its opening line, “I thought love was only true in fairy tales”. The Smash Mouth version hit No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top 20 in New Zealand and Spain. In Australia, the cover reached No. 9 on the ARIA Singles Chart and received a Platinum certification for sales exceeding 70,000.

I’m a believer by Smash Mouth

Summery

The Monkees were not a regular band- by the way they were established, thru the way of them making music and albums… some people say they were only imposters or a “bad version” of the Beatles and some say they were a truly special band. But if there is something undisputable about them is the song: “I’m A Believer”- one of the most known songs of the 60’s with millions of copies and fans. The song was so good that it succeeded make all the way from the 60’s to the years of 2000’s